List of ambassadors of Australia to Egypt

The first official Australian representative in Egypt was Cyril E. Hughes, who was appointed as trade commissioner in Cairo by the Lyons government in 1936 as part of its expansion of the trade commissioner scheme. He was also given responsibility for Cyprus, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, the Sudan, Syria and Turkey. Hughes performed a quasi-diplomatic role, sending briefings to the Department of External Affairs on Middle Eastern politics. His successor James Payne remained in the post throughout World War II.^[2]

Australia opened its first embassy in the Arab world in Cairo, in 1950.^[3] There existed an embassy in Damascus, Syria from 1977 to 1999. Prior to 1977, accreditation for Syria was held by the embassies in Beirut, Lebanon (1973–1976) and Baghdad, Iraq (1976–1977).^[4] In 1991, with its independence, accreditation for Eritrea was held by the High Commission in Nairobi, until it was transferred to the embassy in Cairo in 2006.

After the Australian Government closed its post in Syrian embassy in 1999, the Ambassador to Egypt was named responsible for representing Australian interests in Syria.